Matt Murray is finally going to make his 2016-17 debut, it might just have to wait a few more days. Even though the goaltender has been “going full-speed now for almost two weeks” he won’t start this Saturday versus the Philadelphia Flyers. Instead, according to Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Murray will get one of the west coast back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday. The Penguins visit the Ducks and then the Kings in some inter-conference action.
Murray is coming back from a broken hand he suffered during the World Cup when he backstopped the young guns (Team North America) in the tournament. While the Penguins claimed Mike Condon off waivers earlier in the season to replace Murray, they’re hesitant to lose any of the three solid pieces they have in net. They view them all as considerable assets, and don’t want to lose any for nothing.
- Colton Sceviour will be moved up in the lineup according to George Richards of the Miami Herald. After getting a season-high 15 minutes in the Panthers latest loss at the hands of the Maple Leafs on Thursday night, the former Dallas Star will replace Kyle Rau on the second line. The Panthers are without Jonathan Huberdeau, Nick Bjugstad and Jussi Jokinen due to various injuries and have had to move pieces in and out of their top-six in recent games. While Jon Marchessault is thriving on the top line, the unit of Rau-Trocheck-Smith weren’t as effective against the Maple Leafs.
- The St. Louis Blues will retire number 5 in honor of Bob Plager this season. Plager has been with the club for almost 50 years since his addition as a player on June 6th, 1967, holding almost every position possible: player, head coach, director of scouting, director of player development and others. Plager’s #5 will join Al MacInnis (#2), Bob Gassoff (#3), Barclay Plager (his brother and #8), Brian Sutter (#11), Brett Hull (#16) and Bernie Federko (#24) among retired numbers for the Blues.